On Thursday 28 February 2008, Richard Piper wrote:
On Thu, 2008-02-28 at 14:25 -0600, Luke -Jr wrote:
On Thursday 28 February 2008, Phil Thayer wrote:
And if a user really doesn't like what they are doing they can always switch to another ISP. If there is not another cable ISP then switch to DSL. There are other options available to most users of the internet.
Not in the US. Cable and DSL companies are given a regional monopoly.
Actually that ended before you were born Luke. Now the what was termed ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Company) a.k.a. ATT, and the Cable companies have a virtual monopoly based on "cost-of-entry." Example, my ISP (Everest) has been constrained from expansion by a lack of capital funds to a small geographic footprint within the KC Metro area.
I will grant you that there are some regional governments that limit access to public right-of-way, but I'm pretty sure the Telecom Act removed the ability of cities to grant sanctioned monopolies to single providers.
Rick
Whether it's legally or materially enforced is irrelevant. It's still a monopoly.